Mountain View Pure Water Podcast

Point of Use vs. Whole Home: Which Water Filtration System Is Right For You?

• Dan Toth • Episode 7

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What’s The Difference Between A Whole-home System And A Point-of-use Filter?

Pure water isn't just about what you drink—it's a foundational element that impacts every aspect of daily life. The Mountain View Pure Podcast tackles the critical decision homeowners face when considering water filtration: choosing between whole home systems and point-of-use solutions.

Most people default to point-of-use options like shower head filters or under-sink systems because they're thinking narrowly about drinking water. However, as we explore, this approach overlooks the comprehensive benefits of treating water at the point of entry. Chlorine that irritates your skin during showers, minerals that create stubborn soap scum, and contaminants that affect appliance performance—these issues demand a whole-home approach.

The financial aspect proves particularly compelling. While many view water treatment as an expense, it's actually an investment with measurable returns. Most homeowners already spend substantial amounts compensating for poor water quality—bottled water purchases, excessive cleaning products, expensive beauty products that merely mask hard water effects. A proper filtration system eliminates these ongoing costs, typically delivering complete ROI within five years. Quality whole-home systems with self-cleaning mechanisms can last 15-25 years, dramatically reducing waste and maintenance compared to disposable filters that require constant replacement.

Perhaps most surprising is how water quality affects personal care. That expensive salon shampoo? You might only need it because hard water minerals bond with soaps, creating residue that makes hair unmanageable. The moisturizers for dry skin? Often compensating for the effects of chlorinated, mineral-laden water. By addressing water quality at its source, you'll use fewer products while achieving better results—softer skin, healthier hair, and a cleaner home with less effort.

Ready to transform your home's water quality? Call or text 423-218-9361 for a free consultation and discover how a properly designed water treatment system can enhance your family's health, save money, and improve daily life.

To learn more about Mountain View Pure Water & Air visit:
https://www.MVPWater.net
Mountain View Pure Water & Air
2926 Boones Creek Rd Suite #1
Johnson City, TN 37615
423-218-9361

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Mountain View Pure Podcast, where your journey to exceptional water quality begins. Here's your host, dan Toth, owner of Mountain View Pure Water. They proudly serve homeowners in the Tri-Cities and beyond, offering advanced water and air purification solutions that support a healthier lifestyle. The mission is clear helping you get great water.

Speaker 2:

Choosing between a whole home system and a point of use filter comes down to what contaminants you're targeting and how much coverage you need. Welcome back everyone. Skip Monty, co-host slash producer, back in the studio with owner of Mountain View Pure Water, dan Toth. Dan, how's it going? Doing well, skip, dan, great to be back with you. Homeowners have so many options when it comes to water filtration, and understanding the differences between a whole home system and a point of use system can make all the difference. So what is the difference between a whole home system and a point of use system can make all the difference. So what is the difference between a point of use and a point of entry, I'm sorry and a whole home system?

Speaker 3:

Okay. So most people are familiar with a point of use system. That would be a carbon filter that they put on the shower head, goes on the faucet, maybe a reverse osmosis system, maybe it would be a countertop system that they that they pour water into and it filters for them. So that's typically what people think of when they think of water treatment just for their drinking water or what they're showering in. And on the flip side, a point of entry system typically filters the water that comes into the entire house. So every faucet, every fixture, every appliance has this filtered water.

Speaker 3:

If you have chlorine and chemicals, maybe you want carbon filtration for the entire house. If you have hard water, you want a softener that softens for the entire house. My thought is, if you have a need for ultraviolet, you want the ultraviolet system to filter for the whole house. I don't want to be brushing my teeth or showering in water that's contaminated because I only put the ultraviolet system for the sink or for a reverse osmosis system. So those are the sorts of things that we run into, that people are not always sure of what system I want to buy. What system should I get for my family, because there's all these different products and I'm not sure what to buy, and they typically will default to a point of use system, because they're only thinking about the concern of what am I drinking or what is pouring on me in the shower, and so that's typically what people default to.

Speaker 2:

Well, what maintenance is required for each type of system. And, by the way I said point of entry, that's right Point of use.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

So what kind of maintenance is required for each type of system?

Speaker 3:

Okay.

Speaker 3:

So, oh, my goodness, this can go on for a long time, so I'll try to keep it short. Point of use systems a lot of the time, people have point of use systems which are just basically a carbon filter or something like that. They put on the shower head or they put underneath the kitchen sink that filters the water that they're actually using for maybe cooking or or cleaning fruits and vegetables, things like that. Those systems are typically throwaway canisters and and then you buy a new one. You put your money out, you buy a new one, you replace it and then you use it and you buy another new one and replace it and use it, and so there's a certain amount of money that's out of pocket every time you change those out.

Speaker 3:

Well, something that's more effective is a system that would clean itself. So when we look at whole house systems, I love to point people to a system that is going to be good for 10, 15, 20, 25 years because it is self-cleaning. So you have think about maybe you want to put a filter on your whole home to remove the chlorine or bromine chemicals and taste and odors from city water. You might look at a carbon filter system that's, you know two feet tall and the water for your whole house goes in and comes out of it and that system may take the chemicals, taste and odor out for a year or two, but then you've got to replace it. Chemicals taste an odor out for a year or two, but then you've got to replace it. If I instead put in a system that was twice or three times the size of that and it also had an automatic backwash or automatic cleaning cycle, that might last 15 years to do the same job. So those are the sorts of things that I try to encourage people to do is make sure that you can get the most out of what you've paid for.

Speaker 3:

You know these are investments that we typically think of as expenses, but I love to tell people a water treatment system for your home whether it's a drinking water system reverse osmosis, or it's a drinking water system reverse osmosis, or it's a whole house system that softens the water these are two investments that literally will save you money and you can expect a return on investment, a full ROI within about five years of either one of these in your home, because you're currently spending money on other filtration or bottled water or extra soaps and cleaning products in your home, and so there's an amount of money that you're spending currently because of the water quality that's coming into your house, whether you're on city or well water, and having the right kind of filtration equipment, softening equipment as your point of entry into the home, and having drinking water equipment which is your point of use for cooking, for all the water that you drink, for even rinsing fruits and vegetables, because we have a lot of chemicals on stuff that we buy from the store these days and so rinsing it with a higher quality of water rinses more of that junk off. Those sorts of things are expenses that we have to endure because we're already paying something. We're either buying extra soaps and cleaning products because of the poor water quality, or we're buying bottled water because we can't stand to put the water that comes out of the faucet to our mouth, and so those sorts of things. We've already changed our buying habits to account for the poor water quality.

Speaker 3:

Well, having a water treatment system in the home allows you to have better quality water at an investment up front. So over time, that investment will pay for itself in the savings that you experience, and it's a much better way to go, because what's your solution to buying bottled water? When are you going to stop buying bottled water? And if they continue to raise the price? Or someone like Nestle or Coca-Cola, who literally owns water rights in multiple countries around the world? What if they say oh, now you have to pay more for water and you don't have a better solution than to continue to buy their product? There's also the microplastics that we know are in those, and often the water doesn't actually have the standard of quality that we want to be drinking. So having a point of use system in our home is really the best method to solve this riddle of how do I stop paying for somebody else's bottled water.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we don't want to get into the microplastics. That's scary. That's another scary thing. So I was going to ask you about the cost differences between the two. I would imagine the difference between having multiple point of use filters is going to be more expensive than a whole home system, because you're buying filters for every point of use.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, it does seem like having multiple filters replaced endlessly would be more expensive than having a centralized system where all the water that comes into the house is filtered and then goes to every point of use. So having a whole house system or a point of entry system, in the long run, when you think about waste products or wasted containers and filters and just mechanisms that you use them and then you throw them away, that's a lot of waste and it's expense and it's maintenance. So is your time valuable? Yes, you don't want to do maintenance all the time, and so having a point of use sorry, a point of entry system that treats all the water in the house is a huge benefit because those systems can run for decades without needing maintenance. I know that the systems that we provide have up to a 25-year warranty, and so when you provide a warranty like that, the thing just it's expected to work.

Speaker 3:

And so having a whole home system that filters out chlorine, taste, odors, chemicals it filters out chlorine, taste, odors, chemicals, heavy metals, lead, hardness, minerals, things that cause your home to be dirty, cause smells and odors when you shower that taste bad All that stuff can be removed by a single product at the point of entry to your home, and so then all of the points of use of your faucets and fixtures are all filtered at the same time. And then, if you want to, you can take a system like that and add to it a point-of-use system like a reverse osmosis, where it removes vastly more contaminants than the point-of-entry system is able to remove and that gives you really pristine drinking water that tastes great for your whole family, and you know that the contaminants like herbicides, pesticides, fluoride, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, all those things are actually removed from that water. So you know that you're getting a pure source of water for your home and your family.

Speaker 2:

Wow, and this is backing up a little bit, but I'm sure I know the answer to this question. I know, you know, I've lived in places, in apartments, when I was younger and had city water. Now you're drinking out of glass. Yes, sir. Okay, I just want to make sure, just checking.

Speaker 3:

Reverse osmosis water from home.

Speaker 2:

There you go, there you go. But a lot of times when you have city water you know there's a lot of chlorine in that water and it it it can be an irritant in the shower, Like it's just kind of whole home system. Eliminate that.

Speaker 3:

Yes, absolutely. Can a whole home system eliminate that? Yes, absolutely. In fact, a lot of people have gone to the route of the shower filters and they might have like a vitamin C in them which can, you know, energize you. It can have different chemicals and filters in there to remove things from the water and so a lot of people go that route.

Speaker 3:

Because you can probably pick up one of these filter shower filters for I don't know, 20 bucks, 30 bucks, maybe even less, and for four to six months you have you know what feels like great water or what smells better at least. But if you have that system on your whole house, every shower in the house is now filtered and You've removed not only the chemicals and bad odor from the water but you can also soften it. So when you're in that shower you can save money on soaps and cleaning soaps products and conditioners and shampoos and things like that. You use a whole lot less when you have softened water. There's a real creature comfort benefit to having whole house filtration over just the filter on the shower head, because that doesn't typically soften the water when you have just a point of use filter.

Speaker 2:

Point of entry. You can soften all the water in the house and it really provides an excellent to the body of cleanliness and soft skin and hair. It's amazing when you go from a water system that is not a whole home system or a UV treated to one that is, and it's amazing, the difference in how the water feels actually feels like you just mentioned, like you can actually tell a difference that how it feels on your skin well, and there's a reality that the minerals that are left in the water if you don't soften the water, those minerals bond with the soaps that you use to form soap scum or soap curd, and that soap scum is stuck.

Speaker 3:

You can probably see it if you have a glass shower or when you wash your dishes in the dishwasher. If you don't use a jet dryer or something to remove that, you see the buildup on your dishes and so that's soap bonded with the mineral, the leftover hardness that's in the water. So if you remove that hardness, you don't any longer have that soap scum. And that soap scum besides being on the things that we can see their glass, it's also in our clothing, it's also on our skin, it's also in your hair.

Speaker 3:

Ladies know this because that's why they have these extra cleaners, cleaning shampoos to remove that stuff, because it builds up in their hair and makes it unmanageable. And so these are sorts of things that I wish every hairstylist understood about soft water. They'd be sending people to me all the time because so many people buy very expensive salon shampoos and conditioners that are very expensive. It could cost $50 to $100 a month for some ladies to buy these products and for that same amount of money, they could have all the water in their home filtered and treated, and then they could buy less of the product.

Speaker 2:

Well, with good water, I imagine. I've always heard my wife used to tell me it only takes a dime size of shampoo if the water's good, but if it's really hard water you got to use a bucket full.

Speaker 3:

That's correct. That's correct. You fill up your whole hand and then maybe go for seconds. But people are used to that and I think that's one of the reasons that they neglect to look into this issue is we grow up and we're just used to using all this extra soap and cleaning products. We're just used to putting conditioners on our skin because the skin is dry and cracking. We're just used to buying a salon product instead of some cheaper product line because it has other softeners and conditioners in that salon product that compensates for the poor water quality. But if we were to look into fixing the water quality instead of spending more money on products, we would be much happier, healthier and safer, because all of those things that are put in these salon products and high-end soaps and cleaning products, they're harsh chemicals and that's not good for us, because whatever you put on your skin gets into your body and it's better to remove contaminants from the water than to add more to cover it up.

Speaker 2:

Great note to end on man. Choosing the right filtration system can feel overwhelming, but you've laid it out pretty clearly for me in the last couple of episodes what can happen if you don't do this.

Speaker 3:

So thanks again for sharing your expertise and we'll try to get a word to all of you, I'm sorry go ahead. Just one last thing. If I didn't make it clear, I would definitely suggest both whole home system, which is your point of entry, and purification system for your drinking water or your point of use. That is the best method to make sure that you remove contaminants from your life.

Speaker 2:

Very good. Well, we appreciate the recommendation and we'll see what we can do to get the word out from the podcast to all the beauticians and the Tri-Cities on hey send more folks this way, absolutely All right, dan. You have a great one man. We'll see you in the next episode. Thanks, kip. Have a great day you too.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for joining us on the Mountain View Pure podcast. When you're ready to transform your home's water and air quality, call or text 423-218-9361 for a free in-home consultation. For more information visit mvpwaternet. Remember, great water is the foundation of a great life.